Father is one of the most important persons in our life – regardless of what family we were brought in, what our contact with him was, whether we know him or have never met. No wonder that he often appears in our dream.
There are a lot of version of this dream. For instance, we can be dreaming about meeting with him, be discussing usual topics or the ones we have never discussed before, we can recall some positive or negative events which happened in our life, be arguing or do sports, etc.
A dream may also have a traumatic overtone – e.g, we may take part in our father’s funeral, although he is still alive in real life, or we may have an intimate contact with the father.
How to interpret a dream about father?
Father, the head of family, is the symbol of tradition, authority, order and intellect. It is worth remembering that he also have an individual for every person emotional charge – we all perceive our own father differently. To analyze a dream about father, it is worth paying attention to all details. These are: the locale of the dream – whether we know it or not, and what associations it brings; the time – how old we are, and how old our father is; as well as the background characters.
Our mind often brings us to some particular place or time from the past, because it is related to our current situation. Maybe we are going to be parents ourselves and we need some father’s tips? Maybe we are afraid that we will repeat the mistakes of our parents and – looking from the perspective of time – we want to change some behavioral patterns.
It is important whether we are talking to our father in the dream. A conversation with father is the sign of good news and good future, regardless of whether our father is dead or alive in reality. A silent father, standing somewhere in the background, is the warning from our unconsciousness that we have found ourselves in a difficult situation, which – unless we are reasonable and manage to deal with it – may have negative consequences.
Dreams in which father dies symbolize a transition period in our life, e.g, for teenagers it may mean getting more independence. Intimate contacts with mother have more metaphorical meaning – probably our partner reminds us of our mother in some way, and we react to it according to the old behavioral scripts.
How would Freud interpret a dream about father?
For Freud, dreams about father, especially in intimate contexts, were connected with the Oedipus and Electra complexes, which were the basis of his interpretation. As a result of his research, he came to conclusion that men subconsciously want to kill their fathers and have an intimate relation with their mothers, while women want to eliminate their mothers and get closer with their fathers… He also emphasized, that already in childhood, boys and girls consider the parent of the same gender as their rival for the other parent’s feelings.